New Delhi, Sep 15 (PTI) Defending champions India were faced with organisational chaos after they landed in Samarkand for the Chess Olympiad with players being allotted their hotel rooms after a five-hour delay on Tuesday.
The Indian teams landed in the Uzbek city for the FIDE tournament, scheduled to be held from September 16 to 27.
They had to wait longer than expected but were eventually allotted the rooms, one of the Indian team coaches confirmed to PTI.
“All the players have settled into their rooms now. But it was an unpleasent experience,” said a member of the travelling squads.
Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan, who is the men’s team captain, and GM Vidit Gujrathi earlier took to social media to express their frustration over the delay.
“Having a terrible experience at the @FIDE_chess 2026 Olympiad. The team landed 5 hours ago at Samarkand airport. The team still haven’t been allotted rooms, with absolutely no clarity on when it’ll be allotted,” Srinath posted on X.
“Very poor first impressions of the Samarkand, Uzbekistan Olympiad 2026. Still waiting…,” Gujrathi wrote on X.
The Indian men’s squad is headlined by world champion D Gukesh, Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin and Gujrathi, along with Srinath.
The women’s team comprises all the top stars including Koneru Humpy, R Vaishali, World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, Savitha Shri B and captain Swayams Mishra.
Both Indian teams, comprising five players each, are the defending champions, having won the respective titles in 2024 in a historic achievement. PTI APA DDV PM APA PM PM
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